Baker City, Oregon
Roland Gilbert “Gib” Walker, 77, of Nampa, Idaho, died Feb. 14, 2004, at his home after battling multiple myeloma cancer for two years.
His funeral will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Meridian United Methodist Church. Burial will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Finnish Cemetery near Lake Fork, Idaho. The Heikkila Funeral Chapel of McCall, Idaho, is in charge of arrangements.
Gib was born on Jan. 8, 1927, on a 30-degree day at Winthrop, Wash., to Clarence and Goldie Walker. He was the middle child in a rambunctious family of five boys and one girl. He attended Winthrop schools and entered the U.S. Navy at the age of 17.
After World War II, he worked at various jobs and roped calves in rodeos, including the Calgary Stampede. Gib married Dora Fink in 1947. They had a daughter, Karren, and a son, Brad.
He worked as a lumber grader in Pilot Rock for several years. In 1969, he went to work for the Blue Mountain District Council of Lumber and Sawmill Workers and moved to Baker City.
Gib married Bernice Heikkila Eldridge on June 7, 1980, at Emmett, Idaho. They lived in Baker City until 2001 when they moved to Nampa. During their 24 happy years together, they enjoyed traveling together, not only with Gib’s work, but also after his retirement in 1991.
Together they enjoyed fishing, camping, landscaping a beautiful garden and flowers. Gib loved to hunt and and especially enjoyed teaching his children and grandchildren how to ski. Gib was a busy, caring person, always willing to help others.
Survivors include his loving wife, Bernice of Nampa; daughter, Karren, and her husband, Dennis Hiiranen, of Milton-Freewater; children by marriage, Kim Pancheri of Emmett, Idaho, and Nancy and Rick Husfloen and Dale and Angela Eldrige of Emmett, Idaho; brothers, Allen Walker, and his wife, Jeanette, of Omak, Wash., and Bill Walker and his wife, Ann, of Winthrop, Wash.; a sister, Marguerite, and her husband, Hugh Adams, of Anacortes, Wash.; 15 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his son, Brad; a grandson, Adrian; and three brothers.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, February 20, 2004
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor